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Post by TM on Feb 9, 2010 12:47:29 GMT -5
I'd like to have a stab at this one. I appreciate anyone's thought on this one especially lyrically but musically as well.
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Post by Nonfatman on Mar 23, 2010 5:22:42 GMT -5
I'd like to have a stab at this one. I appreciate anyone's thought on this one especially lyrically but musically as well. So, we gonna do this one or what? I'm game. Love this song so much. Jeff |
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Post by Nonfatman on Mar 23, 2010 10:11:16 GMT -5
So hauntingly beautiful and sad......an elegiac lament.
The Flying Dutchman, in pictures and music:
Jeff
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Post by Nonfatman on Mar 23, 2010 10:24:12 GMT -5
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Post by Nonfatman on Mar 23, 2010 10:28:24 GMT -5
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Post by Nonfatman on Mar 23, 2010 10:43:21 GMT -5
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Post by TM on Mar 23, 2010 12:37:38 GMT -5
I'd like to have a stab at this one. I appreciate anyone's thought on this one especially lyrically but musically as well. So, we gonna do this one or what? I'm game. Love this song so much. Jeff Yes we should. I'll try post some views on this tonight. |
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Post by TM on Mar 24, 2010 8:28:50 GMT -5
I have to admit that up until last night I really hadn't a clue. But it seems this one simply asks us to examine our behavior towards animals (and perhaps the environment) as well as each other.... Flying Dutchman
Old lady with a barrow; life near ending
Standing by the harbour wall; warm wishes sending
children on the cold sea swell
not fishers of men
gone to chase away the last herring:
come empty home again.
So come all you lovers of the good life
on your supermarket run
Set a sail of your own devising
and be there when the Dutchman comes.
First we have the old women wishing the younger generation well as they set off on their fishing boats only to find that the waters have been over-fished. The "fishers of men" line means people who kill animals. As Jesus supposedly called on some fisherman to stop fishing, and follow him, where he would make them "fishers of men." This seems to follow through into the chorus where in the present while on our "super market run" we have the power to make "better" decisions by not eating meat. I can only guess that unlike what was written in folklore - being there to welcome the Flying Dutchman is a metaphor for doing the right thing. Wee girl in a straw hat: from far east warring
Sad cargo of an old ship: young bodies whoring
Slow ocean hobo ports closed to her crew
No hope of immigration keep on passing through.
So come all you lovers of the good life
your children playing in the sun
set a sympathetic flag a-flying
and be there when the Dutchman comes.The description on Jan's site sounds accurate. www.cupofwonder.com/stormwa2.html#dutchIan's using the plight of these Vietnamese immigrants to make a case for us all to open our arms (and shores) to others, so they too might make a home. Interesting how this was at a time that when I never even gave it a glancing thought. I wonder if Ian contemplated the language issue.... Death grinning like a scarecrow Flying Dutchman
Seagull pilots flown from nowhere try and touch one
as she slips in on the full tide
and the harbour-master yells
All hands vanished with the captain
no one left, the tale to tell.
So come all you lovers of the good life
Look around you, can you see?
Staring ghostly in the mirror
it's the Dutchman you will be
floating slowly out to sea
in a misty misery.In the end we're told to take a look at ourselves. Are we doing the best we can for the environment and each other? If not we better change, or suffer the fate of those aboard the Flying Dutchman. Makes sense or am I off base? More on the music later... |
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Post by Nonfatman on Mar 24, 2010 10:17:45 GMT -5
Great analysis there, Paul, I like the way you deconstructed the lyrics and examined their meaning in that way. I think you are right when you say the song asks us to examine our relationship with nature and each other. It is a major theme that runs across many of the albums both before and after Stormwatch.
I never caught the biblical 'fishers of men' allusion before...very interesting, and I guess I never realized the song was at least partly about the depletion of the environment and natural resources, in this case overfishing, but it makes perfect sense in the context of the rest of the album.
You've really hit the nail on the head. The song has nothing to do with the legendary ship or captain. Ian is using the ship as a metaphor for being "lost", i.e., acting in a careless, thoughtless or unsympathetic manner, and the phrase "be there when the Dutchman comes" clearly is a metaphor for acting in a moral and ethical way.
It's really a wonderful song.
Jeff
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Post by Nonfatman on Mar 13, 2014 22:24:31 GMT -5
The missing Malaysian airliner is strikingly similar to the Flying Dutchman in the great Tull song from Stormwatch.
It is actually flying (as opposed to sailing) and is apparently the victim of a Far East hijacking or terrorism (i.e., "from Far East warring"), and "all hands have vanished with the captain - no one left, the tale to tell."
If it was blown up over the ocean, then "it is floating slowly out to sea, in a misty misery", or a misty mystery, if no debris is ever found.
Very strange.
Jeff
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Post by TM on Mar 16, 2014 19:39:42 GMT -5
I find that event very troubling.
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Sparty
One of the Youngest of the Family
Posts: 73
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Post by Sparty on Mar 20, 2014 16:21:54 GMT -5
Two quick observations, perhaps only slightly off topic. First, musically, I've often thought the beginning to the little 'jig' part -- the brief section with whistles -- has an almost 'Korean' if not more broadly East Asian sound to it. It's remarkable to me that Ian so seamlessly merges what I'll call 'Celtic' and 'Korean' motifs in this section. Second, in some ways, the new song "After These Wars" seems a blend of Flying Dutchman and Farm on the Freeway. Anyway, wonderful tune, Flying Dutchman.
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